


Life Changer

by loud_as_lions



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Mentions of Anxiety, dex is the chill one?, domestic-ish, interns au, nursey is painfully awkward, written by someone who knows nothing about interning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-25 22:16:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17733662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loud_as_lions/pseuds/loud_as_lions
Summary: Derek didn't expect to fall for anyone at his internship, but when the IT intern is the most gorgeous guy you've ever seen? Well, that's a good reason to lose your chill.It's really cheesy. Like, really.





	Life Changer

**Author's Note:**

> This is my Valentine for beercheesecasserole on tumblr as a part of Bitty's Valentine's 2019! I really hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Fair warning, I know very little about internships or publishing companies, which is why that aspect of it isn't explored in great detail. John Johnson runs Wellie's Publishing and he runs his company however he needs to for the sake of the narrative.

     Derek Nurse was Nervous. It was his first day with the publishing company he was interning at this summer, and he had no idea how to do this. He didn’t know how to be a real person. What was he thinking? He should just go back to his apartment and-

     His phone went off. He pulled it out of his pocket, looked at it, and smiled. On the lockscreen sat a text from Shitty. It read “you got this” followed by a few different heart emojis. Sometimes he swore his best friend was psychic. Derek took a deep breath in, then exhaled slowly. He looked up at the large brick building in front of him once more, then went inside before it could intimidate him again.

     “Excuse me?” Derek asked, approaching the front desk.

     The woman behind it smiled at him. “Ah, Mr. Nurse! Happy first day.”

     Derek blinked at her. “Thank you. Um, I’m sorry, I don’t…” he began, but the woman and her cheer cut him off.

     “No, it’s alright. I don’t think we met when you came in for your interview. I just remember your face from making up your ID badge.” the woman, Shelly, he knew now from glancing at her nametag, explained as she dug around in one of her desk drawers. After a moment she handed Derek the aforementioned ID.

     “I get an ID?” Derek whispered before he could stop himself.

     He felt himself blush, but Shelly only smiled wider. “You do! You’ve got to wear it at all times in the building for security reasons, so make sure you always have it visible,” she told him. Shelly clicked around on her computer for a moment before adding “You should head up to the third floor and go to room 10. They’ll be expecting you.”

     “Thank you, Shelly.” Derek smiled. Her mood had done wonders for his own, and he was grateful for it.

     “You’re welcome. Have a good day!”

     As he rode the elevator to the third floor, Derek focused on Shelly. Thinking of her positive energy and how kind and helpful she was instead of his nerves was a good distraction for him. The third floor came quickly, and he was thrilled to find that room 10 was easy to locate. The last thing he needed was getting lost on his first day.

     When he entered room 10, all thoughts of Shelly and her positivity vanished. The room was large, but most of its space was taken up by desks and people that looked close to his age. Everyone was consumed in various stages of work, so much so that no one even spared him a glance. Shelly had said they would be expecting him, but it didn’t seem like it.

     Derek took a breath, put a calm smile on his face, and headed for the only empty desk in the room. He stood by it for a moment, making sure that there weren’t personal items on the desk claiming it as someone else’s. There wasn’t. He sat down and took his computer out of his bag, figuring he might as well get set up and ready to work.

     The girl at the desk beside his smiled over at him. “Hey,” she greeted, rolling her chair over a little. “You’re going to have to go over to IT to get that hooked up to the WiFi and stuff.” the girl said. 

     Derek nodded. “That’s for the best. I’m so bad with technology.” The girl laughed. “Is there anything I should do before that? Someone I should report to or something?” 

     “No, the intern manager comes in at nine every morning and she’ll get you settled then.” the girl explained. “You should have your computer set up before then, though. IT is just down the hall, 315.”

     Derek thanked her and headed over to 315, computer in hand. The room looked empty, though.

     “Hello?” Derek asked. “Anybody here?”

A small bang. A grunt. A swear. A hand grabbing the side of a desk. 

     “Are you okay?” Derek asked, heading over to the desk. There he found a man, half on the floor, half off, pulling himself up with the hand he’d placed on the desk.

     “I’m fine. You just startled me. Nobody usually comes in this early.” The ginger man explained, taking Derek’s extended hand to help him stand up the rest of the way.

     “I’m so sorry.” Derek frowned as the man put a hand to his head, likely checking for a bump.

     “S’alright. Anyway, what did you need?” The man asked, finally looked at Derek fully. His eyes were the most stunning color Derek had ever seen, and he wished he could go back in time so he could write last semester’s poetry project on this man’s eyes instead of whatever bullshit focus he had picked before he’d seen real beauty. 

     Derek realized he was staring, and probably blushing, and he’d been quiet for way too long. Luckily, the man didn’t seem to care. He reached for Derek’s ID, looked down at it, and nodded. “First day, Nurse?” Derek nodded dumbly. The man let Derek’s ID flop back against his shirt. “Can I see your computer?” Derek handed it to him without a second thought.

     “Type in your password,” the man said. Derek did. He felt like a robot, but he knew if he actually spoke, he’d say something dumb about how the man’s honey eyes were brighter than Derek’s entire fucking future and somehow that didn’t seem like a good first impression. The man was clicking around on Derek’s computer, and typing, and the muscles in his forearms moved in a way that was somehow impossibly strong and overwhelmingly delicate all at once.

     Derek didn’t believe in love at first sight, but now he was doubting that. Maybe you could just fall in love with someone’s eyes and arms? That made sense.

     “You’re all set.” The man said, yanking Derek from the sonnets swirling in his brain. “Just don’t delete this, at least until you’re done working here. It’s how you stay logged on.” He explained, pointing to an icon of something he must have downloaded on Derek’s desktop.

     “Thank you…” Derek trailed off, trying to read the man’s ID.

     It was the man’s turn to blush. “Oh, sorry. Will Poindexter.” he said, extending his hand for Derek to shake. Derek smiled and shook it. “If you need any more help, I’m your guy.”

     “Thanks, Will.” Derek said. Will grinned.

     Derek turned to leave, but Will’s voice stopped him. “Derek?”

     He turned back to face Will.

     “You don’t have to be nervous. Wellie’s doesn’t take on people they don’t think can do the job.” His face was still a little red. Or maybe it was red  _ again _ \- Derek couldn’t tell.

     “Thank you.”

     The rest of Derek’s first day went by in a blur. He met his boss, and some of his fellow interns, and started his first project. It was terrifying and exciting and everything he’d hoped it would be. At the end of the work day, Will was in the elevator with him on the way down to the lobby. He’d even asked him about his day.

     It was going to be a good summer.

* * *

     Derek wasn’t doing it on purpose. His first day he’d said he was bad with technology, and that was in no way an exaggeration- and that was why he had to go to room 315 at least once a week. The fact that one of the IT guys was just about the hottest person Derek had ever seen was a total coincidence.

     Usually, when Derek went to the tech room, he found Will’s eyebrows knit tight, frustration evident on his face. Despite that, he was always kind and patient with Derek. Well, sort of.

     “Remind me again how you did this?” Will asked incredulously, clicking around on Derek’s computer.

     Derek’s ears were burning with embarrassment. “I don’t know! It just froze. Isn’t that a thing? Computers just freeze sometimes without any fault of their owners?”

     Will laughed, and Derek’s grin was immediate. By this point, it was an automatic thing. Even if he was just walking by 315 and heard Will laughing, the same goofy smile would spread across Derek’s face. He knew he was in deep, but he couldn’t help it.

     The girl who sat beside Derek, Caitlin, smirked at him when he returned.

     “How’s Will?” she asked.

     Derek’s eyes widened. “Seems fine. Managed to fix my computer yet again.” He said, opening it on his desk and hoping that looking focused on work would keep Caitlin from further questioning.

     It didn’t.

     She rolled her chair over beside his, bumping right into him, smirk still mischievous as ever. “When are you going to finally ask him out?”

     Derek balked at her. “Are you kidding?”

     “Come on, it’s been a month. Will is only here until early August. You’re wasting precious office romance time.” Caitlin complained.

     “Isn’t that not allowed, though?” he’d thought it wasn’t. That was why he’d been sticking to his IT visits as his only interactions with Will. He’d known he couldn’t handle them hanging out as friends when he wanted so much more.

     Caitlin rolled her eyes. “You watch too much television. For real employees it’s a little different, but as interns you just have to keep it out of the office and they don’t care what you do.”

     Derek grinned. “Do you think he’s interested?”

     “I’ve seen you two talk in the elevator. He definitely is.”

* * *

     That day when Derek finished his work, he said goodbye to Caitlin and headed to room 315.

     Will was typing away on a computer when Derek knocked on the doorframe. He glanced up, smiled, and continued typing. Derek was always impressed by how Will could be focused on more than one thing at a time. “Hey man,” Will greeted.

     “Hey. You finishing up soon?”

     Will looked at his computer screen, then back at Derek. “Yeah, I’ve just got to send this report and then I’m out.”

     “Any plans for tonight?”

     Will was typing again, but he paused to laugh at that. “Why, need me to make a house call?”

     Derek grinned. “Actually, I was thinking I could make you dinner. But now that you mention it, my stereo hasn’t been working right lately.” 

     Will laughed again, but then abruptly stopped typing and blinked up at Derek. Derek’s breath caught in his throat. 

     “You wanted to make me dinner?” Will asked. The tips of his ears were beginning to go pink.

     Derek nodded, not trusting his voice. 

     “Like… a date?”

     “Not like a date. An actual date.” Derek clarified.

     He could see the cogs in Will’s brain turning. The blush from his ears was spreading to his face. He looked overwhelmed, and Derek slid on his calm smile. “Chill, man. Forget I said anything.”

     “Don’t tell me to chill.” Will said, and it was Derek’s turn to be surprised. Even more so as he watched a smile spread across Will’s face. “I’m allowed to be un-chill when the guy I’ve had a crush on for a month wants to cook me dinner. Don’t you think?”

     Derek was floored. Somehow, while he’d spent the past month crushing hard on Will, the other man had been doing the same to him? He couldn’t believe it. Shit like that only happened in movies.

     “Yeah, that’s definitely a good reason to be un-chill.” he decided. 

     Will visibly relaxed, though his blush didn’t fade. He clicked at his computer some more, then Derek heard the shut down noise, and went to grab Will’s coat from the hanger across the room while he gathered his things. 

* * *

     “Am I doing this right?” Will asked. 

     Derek came up behind him and peeked into the pan. “You’ve got to make sure you’re scraping the bottom so nothing sticks. Here, like this.” Derek took Will’s hand in his and showed him how to stir the cheese just right. 

     “You know,” Will began, “When you said dinner, fondue isn’t exactly what I expected.” 

     Derek chuckled. “When I asked to make you dinner a yes isn’t exactly what I expected.” 

     Will turned his head so he could look at Derek, who grinned at him. Derek wasn’t sure who leaned in first, but their lips met and Derek would have stayed that way forever if the cheese on the stove wouldn’t have burnt. When he pulled away, Will opened his mouth to speak, but Derek kissed him again quickly. 

     “Shhh, stirring requires intense concentration.” Derek insisted before letting go of Will’s hand. Will rolled his eyes, but Derek could tell from where he stood chopping the carrots that he was devoting a lot of attention to the cheese. 

     When everything was finally ready, Will frowned at Derek from his seat across the table. “Are you not going to feed me?” he asked.

     Derek’s jaw practically dropped. “Um,” was all he managed. 

     “Isn’t that how fondue works?” Will continued. 

     “Sorry, uh. Do you want me to…” Derek tried, but before he could form a coherent sentence, Will was laughing that booming laugh of his. Derek, relieved, joined in. 

     “Oh my god. Would you really have-?” Will couldn’t stop laughing, and Derek loved every second of it. 

     “Shut up, our cheese is getting cold.” Derek rolled his eyes. 

     Derek watched as Will dug into his first bite of broccoli dipped in cheese. 

     “Derek, this is so fucking good.” Will praised, even though it had been him that had essentially made the fondue. 

     “I told you. It’s a life changer.” 

     “You’re a life changer.”

     They were silent for a moment, both surprised. When Derek met Will’s eyes, they fell into another fit of laughter. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> Yell about these hockey gays with me at christopher-chowder-chow on tumblr!


End file.
